NEUOFFENBARUNG← Gifts of Heaven · Volume 1 · Contents
Gospel of the vine
9th August 1840
In the vineyard of Andr.H., near Maria Schnee, next to the convent of the Carmelites – J.L. speaks – K.G.L., S., D., Andr.H. and Ans.H. write
[1] At the place where you are now, a few hundred years ago, there was still a dense forest and other bushes and undergrowth. And two thousand years ago, enormous floods still played with the course of the small mountains, filling the hollows of the plain.
[2] This height, or rather this small elevation above the plain, where vines have been planted for several years, also arose, like other high mountains, over the course of time by the inner fire (of the earth). However, as far as the outside or the forehead is concerned, this is rather a deposit partly due to the formation process of a neighboring, larger mountain, partly, however, also alluvial deposits by the floods, which were prevented there by the opposing castle mountain in their rapid flow. Look, this is the preliminary, necessary revelation about the creation of this small area.
[3] Now see, in My order it is generally arranged in such a way that a nobler stage of the plants always displaces a less noble one, namely partly through the influence of the weather and then, however, mainly through humans. For where in any place barren trees, thorns and thistles have grown and stood and lived vegetatively for a long time, the soil of this place will be refined by this that the world of trees, bushes and thorns, which was useless for intelligent (higher) survival, dies and rots again and thus forms a fertile land. Then it happens through My order that in such more fertile places nobler plantings is done by human hands, whereby then a new and also more perfect way to their redemption is opened to the decayed spiritual intelligences.
[4] The vine is just such a nobler kind of plant, which was cleansed only after the merciful deluge in the times of Noah and was transformed and blessed by Me, and that for the reason that it, at it's first coming into being – originating from the will of My enemy – the first man, because he had mostly forgotten Me and thus wandered into the light of the day in his pleasure – first became the awakening stumbling stone and thereby in a certain way forced the first humans – although heavily loaded with his poisonous berries – to turn back to their house.
[5] Now you see, it is for this very cause mentioned above that I, as already indicated, after the flood, have taken the poison from the vine and have blessed the vine four times, while I have blessed the water ninety-nine times; and it is precisely through this fourfold blessing, that the vine now belongs to the noblest species of plants.
[6] But before I can tell and reveal to you something from the innermost depth of this plant, I must necessarily first still acquaint you with his outward – as you are wont to say – botanical plant-being.
[7] See, in each berry you will find one, often also several almost heart-shaped seeds. From such heart-shaped grape pips, you can always infer the greater or lesser perfection of a plant. For just as the heart of the animals, the more perfect they become, the more it resembles your heart – the same is the case with the seeds from the plant-realm. And the united spirits of such nobler plants can also skip a large number of animal stages in their process of new formation, and often even be accepted into the class of mankind at once. And they also have this advantage that, while their spirits quietly continue their way, their material pod, consisting of innumerable delicate little pods, in each of which a higher life-food spark is included, higher living being first to the nutrition of the body and thus also serves to nourish and train the soul. And they have also this advantage that, while their spirituality continues it's way quietly, their material cover, consisting of innumerable tender shells, in each of which a higher life-nourishing spark is enclosed, first serves higher living beings for the nourishment of the body and thereby also for the nourishment and education of the soul.
[8] Fruits such as cereals and other coarser fruits preferably serve to nourish the body – but the fruit of the vine, in pure and moderate consumption, serves more to enliven the soul than the body.
[9] Now see, the grape pip of the grape is thus constituted that it grows in the middle of the berry like a child in the womb and matures with the berry itself. There it happens, that through the marrow of the vine, through a tube thinner than a hair-thin spider thread not visible to your eyes, an ethereally fiery juice rises. When you look at the vine, you will see that it has very many limbs. With each such member, this tube is refined and at the point where the fruit of the grape is attached, it is divided into many arms, which you can see if you count the seeds in a grape, because each such seed is connected with such an organ.
[10] But the firm grape pip that you see is not formed from this fiery juice, not even the oily fruit enclosed by this firm grape pip; but in this oily fruit is enclosed an extraordinarily small and delicate pod similar to the outer shape of the grape pip, which is just small enough to occupy only the ten thousandth part of the size of the oily fruit. This small pod is filled with this fiery substance of grace.
[11] Once this has happened, the hair-thin tube from which the small pod hangs, is immediately tied up tightly. And from this tube, several small arms or side channels are formed and surround, as it were entwining, this small pod with the aforementioned oily substance, which then thereby becomes sweet-oily, because it is formed from the nobler spiritual substances, formerly already matured in the less noble plant-world, through My mercy love.
[12] Once this second act has taken place, this hair-thin tube is tied up for the second time and almost simultaneously forms the solid grape pip, which is done in the following way: Since during the small time period of the constrictions the juices have condensed in the whole length of this tube, the juices then burst at many places under the points of constriction, since the tube is naturally most tender and most fragile. The condensed fiery juices then flow out of it around the oily fruit and crowd around the center of it's living sanctuary, competing for love.
[13] Now when the core has reached it’s solidity and the juices that are still following meet their kind and no longer feel the warmth of the inner spark of grace, then these juices break through this channel in a circle and spin around the grape pip like a caterpillar it’s pupa.
[14] At the same time, however, a coarser pod is formed by outer, coarser channels that ascend through the vine, all of which is naturally done by the simple intelligence of the indwelling spirits of such a plant.
[15] If now this coarser pod has reached a certain proper solidity, then the nobler vessels surrounding the grape pip burst and flow into this shell in a sweetish, spiritual juice. But since this pod is also originally formed by juices, which must be bitter in their nature, so that the fruit, or rather the pod, receives a firmness – so now two kinds of juices come together within this pod, namely a bitter and a sweet one, which is why an unripe berry tastes very astringently sour.
[16] With time, however, the more bitter and inferior is overcome by the inner sweetness and good and pushed to the outer limit as a solid pod mass. And this then serves you as a good example: firstly, through the good that rises from within, life is preserved in an unbounded freedom, which the grape pip shows here, as all the juices surrounding it become milder and looser and thus also more mature and spiritual; and secondly, the overcome bitter and, as it were bad, becomes good as well, as it becomes the general vessel of such a plant sanctuary.
[17] And now look further, if you take a good look at the vine, you will also find on it leaves and twigs, and instead of the little twigs, you will discover the well-known thread arms. You will find overall more animal life in this plant, if you look at it very carefully, than in any other plant.
[18] These arms are created in the same way as the grape itself, but the spirits still had too little love-goodness in them, hence too little life to form a fruit. When they have now reached their full
size and now become aware that there is no life in them for the formation of a fruit, and this because of a certain carelessness – then they think in their simple intelligence that the spark of life has run away from them in a certain way. There they expand as far as possible, and as they then come upon a tangible object, they think in their blindness that they have found life, then spin around it in a similar way as the finer vessels does the grape pip, and no longer let go of it. The consequence alone shows that in such a stretching out they have embraced only death with their arms instead of life – and die the same death themselves.
[19] This is also a small hint for you! For if someone, disregarding his inner being, only believes to seek the fullness of life in the vast space of creation, he too has stretched out his arms and eyes far after death – while I teach everyone through daily experience that the world becomes more and more beautiful, glorious and transfigured the further you are from it. Even the far view of an area should give you a not insignificant hint about it. For you often look at a far-away mountain range with pious, enthusiastic pleasure. But how is it then, when you have come on this mountain yourselves that on this mountain or mountain range you find nothing beautiful and no more pleasure, than that of the distant vision of other areas?
[20] See, therein lies also that the more you withdraw yourselves from the world, and as it were move away from it, the more beautiful, transfigured, and transparent it appears to you; only there has he who contemplates and respects My works, a pure pleasure in it.
[21] For see, life dwells in the inward – and death in the outward! For the one who strives for the life and becomes alive, everything will be transfigured and alive. For he who has the life, breathes on all things with this life, and so they then come to life before him and through him. To the living one, death must hand over it’s prisoners.
[22] But he who strives outward – be it for whatever – strives for death, and also soon seizes the next-best thing that comes his way, the one this, the other that, which in itself is nothing but death. Such a one scatters his life, becomes weaker and weaker and finally dies completely. And for him therefore, everything is dead and as good as not existing at all. This is also the cause why so many people lose even Me – as the most alive Life of all life – from their eyes and hearts as not existing at all any more!
[23] Behold, I had already mentioned to you somewhat of the gospel of the plants; so here you have a little gospel of the vine! And so let us now hear a small progressive observation of the vine!
[24] A third limb of the vine is the leaf. This is formed from a triple juice. For canals proceed from the mark of the vine, precisely at the point where the vine always forms a link. And this now happens in the following way:
[25] Namely, as I have already mentioned to you in the growth of the tree, also here already happens a much more lively striving for My spark of grace, which is enclosed in the seed. And when now the malicious (nature) spirits of this spark feel it rising in the fine central vessel, they quickly run in bundles after the spark in this small trunk. But when the little spark has risen to a certain height, then – what you would find hard to believe – it encircles the peripheral vessels of the absurd spirits with lightning speed. But these then nevertheless run after that (the little spark) and do not know – due to the thousandfold-curved movement of the main organ, whereto the little spark has gone. Therefore they look for it on this place (where the vine forms a limb) and then shoot away from the trunk here in finer potency and in this way form the stem of a leaf.
[26] If they have then striven on for a while in this stalk and still have not found the spark of life, then they consult among themselves in their simple intelligence and now want to turn in all directions to find the object of their murderous love. They therefore they deploy in all directions in a net-shape and send a lot of offshoots downwards, which so to say form the hairs on the lower part of the leaf. And they then also fill the net- and intermediate spaces with their substance through their search.
[27] Nothing but their own bad hope forces them to run out in masses upon masses after such parts. And when now the little spark of life becomes aware that there a sufficient mass has streamed out, it constricts it’s channels except for a middle one at the speed previously mentioned. The spark of life itself, however, often breaks out precisely in the middle of such persecuting hordes, where the already known process takes place.
[28] The same process happens as often as you notice a limb on such a vine.
[29] But the spark of life lets these leaves arise from the cause, so that it can firstly proceed with it’s further formation under a soft shadow, and secondly it then sucks out of the sea of light for itself for the formation of the juice surrounding it’s core, which flows out in abundance from My merciful sun, the ethereal substance in itself, in which the fourfold blessing actually consists.
[30] This fourfold blessing then becomes, when the grape has been squeezed, the spiritual in the vine. However, not before the juice has thrown out all impurity, the spiritual in the juice emerges.
[31] But see, also in this there is again a small gospel – how the inner power of life only then passes over effectively and perceptibly into purified matter, when this has automatically, certainly also only through My strong assistance, removed the parasites of death. Then the matter itself is transfigured and pure, like the juice of the grape in a barrel or wineskin.
[32] Through a similar withdrawal from the world into the protective and enduring vessel of humility, your material being is also purified by the action of the emerging spirit. In this humility a similar fermentation then takes place, whereby all unclean and dead things are returned to the world. But life, united with it’s sacred matter, remains like a good wine in the vessel of humility eternally together in all strength.
[33] Now behold, this is given to you about the vine, as much as you can bear! But there are still, as everywhere, infinite things hidden, which you would not be able to bear for now. However, in due course you will hear still more of it, partly through My servant, but partly, if you want to be attentive to your inner being, also in yourselves. Amen.